I Cannot Live, I Cannot Die: Breaking Down 'The Punisher' Trailer

This morning, Marvel graced us with our first full trailer for ‘The Punisher’ on Netflix. While we still don’t know when the series is coming, we do know that it will be within the next three and a half months, and with all the new excitement that this trailer brought, we have plenty to talk about until the mysterious premiere date.

Now that we’ve all had a chance to watch the new trailer two or twenty times, let’s take a closer look at some of the details!

The trailer starts with a tender moment of Frank on the guitar, with his daughter. He’s playing a sad melody, which fits well with the inter-cut version of Frank, in a dark cell-like space, playing the same tune. Dark Frank is the vision of pure anguish.

This much of the trailer was shown at San Diego Comic-Con, and it took all of these first three seconds for me to realize that this show will have a distinctive tone, and that it will manage to break your heart. While this trailer only lasts two minutes, twenty-seven seconds, it takes you on a wild emotional journey.

The tender and sad juxtaposition ends as the video literally becomes clearer, bringing us to the Frank Castle that we know and love, who’s family is gone. Now the parts of Punisher that we haven’t yet seen, begin. The music intensifies, and with a barrage of bullets, it becomes obvious that the melody was Metallica’s ‘One.’

College theses could be written on this choice of music for the Punisher trailer. Metallica’s ‘One’ is more than a hard-rock song from the eighties. The song is based on the book Johnny Got His Gun, about a World War I soldier who survived to come home to a life that was worse than death. While Frank Castle is still able-bodied, the application of this song to his story is a bold statement, and a promise to fans that nothing will be off-limits in this series.

With the barrage of bullets that turn into the drum solo from ‘One,’ we see a montage of Frank Castle doing what Frank Castle does best: taking on the world. While the dialogue may be coming from various different conversations, we see more people as Frank talks about how “They killed my family to get to me,” and “I was part of a covert C.I.A. operation.”

While there is always room to be misled, we can assume that this montage is of the anti-Frank contingency. Then again, what person in law enforcement wouldn’t be against Frank Castle? Then, we get the morally grey area of the team that is pro-Frank, and that starts with Karen Page.

Adding to team Frank, we finally see the person he is supposedly talking to, Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Microchip.

As if Frank were erecting a giant neon sign saying “This is not Daredevil,” he tells his new partner of his one condition: That he gets to kill everyone. Showing that Micro has none of the moral qualms of Matt Murdock, he replies that he “Cant live with that.” A friendship is born!

The next blip in the trailer is a zooming show that takes the audience back to Frank’s rifle. This is from the scene that was shown in San Diego, where a person is assassinated in Jaurez, and the camera pans back to Frank, and labels his location in El Paso. This leads into a montage from many battles we can expect to see, with action from various characters.

The trailer ends with the return of Brett Mahoney and the reminder that Frank Castle is presumed dead. The usual cryptic redacted information turns into the poster, still keeping the premiere date a secret. But we have learned so much more about this series from the details that they decided to share. There were far more shots of New York City than I expected (perhaps because of the clips of him killing in various locations that was shared in San Diego). There was even one action snippet reminiscent of the classic Netflix hallway fight, although Frank is making his way down stairs.

Amid the action, there is still the reminder of Frank’s past, and what set him on this journey.

Honestly, I wasn’t excited about The Punisher getting his own series. While the character is deep, I didn’t see how they would build a story around him where I could be excited to watch his journey for thirteen episodes. But with what they have put in this trailer, I am all on board. There is a story here, there are twists, and there was action that didn’t involve a barrage of bullets. On that mysterious date that they release the series, I’ll be up at 3 am to watch.

How are you feeling after this 2:27 adventure? Let us know, in the comments!

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I'm a master of the Netflix Corner of the MCU. I spend my free time obsessing over water towers in New York, finding new topics to podcast, and trying to pass suggestions to Marvel Television. Rumors of Jeph Loeb having a restraining order drafted for me are entirely untrue.